"We are a bit more holistic in terms of the behaviours we’re trying to reward in our marketplace and that sustains a higher price point,” Watson told a press briefing through the week.

“I’d rather developers sell fewer than a million downloads and get to a million dollars. If we can support a higher price point that’s good for developers.”

Despite this more selective philosophy, the Marketplace has nonetheless just reached the 20,000 app milestone, and Microsoft will no doubt be hoping the upcoming Mango update to Windows Phone 7 will help spur on the platform's app ecosystem even further.

And on that note, Watson says there are a good few yet-to-be-announced gems lurking among the 500-odd updates that Mango will be bringing to the table later this year. “There are more delighters coming,” he promised.

Weird.... I oddly agree. I rather spend €10 for Symbian's Gravity than 2.99 for an Android twitter app that is indistinguishable from 40 others....
Of couse, it's worth noting that thus far wp7 is so limited out of the box, that many ppl will be willing to spend more on apps to make the phone more usable. Most Android devices have most bases covered, so there is less 'need'...

With Mango, there are so many new features which are baked in and seamlessly integrated, that it will remove the current limitations and therefore will no longer be limited out of the box. This allows quality apps to be developed which enhance the beautiful Mango WP7 OS and the user experience, rather than simply adding essential features via apps.